diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr.c b/hw/ppc/spapr.c
index 298171a205..eb66a87136 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr.c
@@ -1196,17 +1196,8 @@ static void spapr_cpu_reset(void *opaque)
 
     env->spr[SPR_HIOR] = 0;
 
-    env->external_htab = (uint8_t *)spapr->htab;
-    env->htab_base = -1;
-    /*
-     * htab_mask is the mask used to normalize hash value to PTEG index.
-     * htab_shift is log2 of hash table size.
-     * We have 8 hpte per group, and each hpte is 16 bytes.
-     * ie have 128 bytes per hpte entry.
-     */
-    env->htab_mask = (1ULL << (spapr->htab_shift - 7)) - 1;
-    env->spr[SPR_SDR1] = (target_ulong)(uintptr_t)spapr->htab |
-        (spapr->htab_shift - 18);
+    ppc_hash64_set_external_hpt(cpu, spapr->htab, spapr->htab_shift,
+                                &error_fatal);
 }
 
 static void spapr_create_nvram(sPAPRMachineState *spapr)
diff --git a/target-ppc/kvm.c b/target-ppc/kvm.c
index 4161f646c7..776336b8b4 100644
--- a/target-ppc/kvm.c
+++ b/target-ppc/kvm.c
@@ -867,7 +867,7 @@ static int kvm_put_vpa(CPUState *cs)
 }
 #endif /* TARGET_PPC64 */
 
-static int kvmppc_put_books_sregs(PowerPCCPU *cpu)
+int kvmppc_put_books_sregs(PowerPCCPU *cpu)
 {
     CPUPPCState *env = &cpu->env;
     struct kvm_sregs sregs;
diff --git a/target-ppc/kvm_ppc.h b/target-ppc/kvm_ppc.h
index fd64c44f4d..fc7931227d 100644
--- a/target-ppc/kvm_ppc.h
+++ b/target-ppc/kvm_ppc.h
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ void kvmppc_hash64_write_pte(CPUPPCState *env, target_ulong pte_index,
                              target_ulong pte0, target_ulong pte1);
 bool kvmppc_has_cap_fixup_hcalls(void);
 int kvmppc_enable_hwrng(void);
+int kvmppc_put_books_sregs(PowerPCCPU *cpu);
 
 #else
 
@@ -246,6 +247,11 @@ static inline int kvmppc_enable_hwrng(void)
 {
     return -1;
 }
+
+static inline int kvmppc_put_books_sregs(PowerPCCPU *cpu)
+{
+    abort();
+}
 #endif
 
 #ifndef CONFIG_KVM
diff --git a/target-ppc/mmu-hash64.c b/target-ppc/mmu-hash64.c
index 9c58fbf009..7b5200bdc6 100644
--- a/target-ppc/mmu-hash64.c
+++ b/target-ppc/mmu-hash64.c
@@ -258,6 +258,49 @@ target_ulong helper_load_slb_vsid(CPUPPCState *env, target_ulong rb)
 /*
  * 64-bit hash table MMU handling
  */
+void ppc_hash64_set_sdr1(PowerPCCPU *cpu, target_ulong value,
+                         Error **errp)
+{
+    CPUPPCState *env = &cpu->env;
+    target_ulong htabsize = value & SDR_64_HTABSIZE;
+
+    env->spr[SPR_SDR1] = value;
+    if (htabsize > 28) {
+        error_setg(errp,
+                   "Invalid HTABSIZE 0x" TARGET_FMT_lx" stored in SDR1",
+                   htabsize);
+        htabsize = 28;
+    }
+    env->htab_mask = (1ULL << (htabsize + 18 - 7)) - 1;
+    env->htab_base = value & SDR_64_HTABORG;
+}
+
+void ppc_hash64_set_external_hpt(PowerPCCPU *cpu, void *hpt, int shift,
+                                 Error **errp)
+{
+    CPUPPCState *env = &cpu->env;
+    Error *local_err = NULL;
+
+    cpu_synchronize_state(CPU(cpu));
+
+    env->external_htab = hpt;
+    ppc_hash64_set_sdr1(cpu, (target_ulong)(uintptr_t)hpt | (shift - 18),
+                        &local_err);
+    if (local_err) {
+        error_propagate(errp, local_err);
+        return;
+    }
+
+    /* Not strictly necessary, but makes it clearer that an external
+     * htab is in use when debugging */
+    env->htab_base = -1;
+
+    if (kvm_enabled()) {
+        if (kvmppc_put_books_sregs(cpu) < 0) {
+            error_setg(errp, "Unable to update SDR1 in KVM");
+        }
+    }
+}
 
 static int ppc_hash64_pte_prot(PowerPCCPU *cpu,
                                ppc_slb_t *slb, ppc_hash_pte64_t pte)
diff --git a/target-ppc/mmu-hash64.h b/target-ppc/mmu-hash64.h
index e7d9925411..138cd7e3ad 100644
--- a/target-ppc/mmu-hash64.h
+++ b/target-ppc/mmu-hash64.h
@@ -92,6 +92,12 @@ unsigned ppc_hash64_hpte_page_shift_noslb(PowerPCCPU *cpu,
 
 
 extern bool kvmppc_kern_htab;
+
+void ppc_hash64_set_sdr1(PowerPCCPU *cpu, target_ulong value,
+                         Error **errp);
+void ppc_hash64_set_external_hpt(PowerPCCPU *cpu, void *hpt, int shift,
+                                 Error **errp);
+
 uint64_t ppc_hash64_start_access(PowerPCCPU *cpu, target_ulong pte_index);
 void ppc_hash64_stop_access(uint64_t token);
 
diff --git a/target-ppc/mmu_helper.c b/target-ppc/mmu_helper.c
index e5ec8d6169..fcb2cc5c79 100644
--- a/target-ppc/mmu_helper.c
+++ b/target-ppc/mmu_helper.c
@@ -2005,15 +2005,14 @@ void ppc_store_sdr1(CPUPPCState *env, target_ulong value)
     env->spr[SPR_SDR1] = value;
 #if defined(TARGET_PPC64)
     if (env->mmu_model & POWERPC_MMU_64) {
-        target_ulong htabsize = value & SDR_64_HTABSIZE;
+        PowerPCCPU *cpu = ppc_env_get_cpu(env);
+        Error *local_err = NULL;
 
-        if (htabsize > 28) {
-            fprintf(stderr, "Invalid HTABSIZE 0x" TARGET_FMT_lx
-                    " stored in SDR1\n", htabsize);
-            htabsize = 28;
+        ppc_hash64_set_sdr1(cpu, value, &local_err);
+        if (local_err) {
+            error_report_err(local_err);
+            error_free(local_err);
         }
-        env->htab_mask = (1ULL << (htabsize + 18 - 7)) - 1;
-        env->htab_base = value & SDR_64_HTABORG;
     } else
 #endif /* defined(TARGET_PPC64) */
     {